TiVo's YouTube player that was announced back in March is finally going live today and will allow streaming, yes streaming, of all H.264 YouTube videos. It's a major part of the 9.4 Summer Update that is hitting all boxes by the end of this month. Even though all boxes are receiving this update only Series 3 and HD TiVos will be able to see the YouTube feature, sorry Series 2'ers. We haven't gotten a hands on yet but we've been briefed on how it will function and it actually sounds usable. Video and Press Release after the jump.

Good news, kind of. TiVo has just announced that their networked Series 3 and TiVo HD subscribers…
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Hidden within the Download TV, Movies, & Web Video selection, in the Find Programs menu, there will now be a YouTube option. TiVo's YouTube menu page has a different layout than the usual TiVo menus. From this YouTube menu you'll be able to select from popular videos, recent videos or search for videos using the onscreen keyboard. Alongside each video there will be a thumbnail, title and a short description just like YouTube.com. Once a video is selected the player will automatically go full screen and start streaming within seconds. Since the video streams live there is no need to go the Now Playing List and there is no option to save the video there.

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Right now there is no way to login into an YouTube account, but TiVo says there's a minor update coming in eight weeks that will incorporate this feature. Overall the YouTube integration sounds pretty legit. We hope now that TiVo has figured out streaming video it will open up options for other services like Netflix and Hulu.

TiVo Offers Subscribers More Ways to Discover Relevant and Personalized Content Directly from the TiVo Remote

ALVISO, Calif. - July 17, 2008 - TiVo Inc. (NASDAQ: TIVO), the creator of and a leader in television services for digital video recorders (DVRs), today announced the availability of YouTube videos on the TV via a TiVo® DVR. A partnership between the two companies allows broadband-connected subscribers with TiVo Series3™ and TiVo HD DVRs, to access hundreds of millions of user generated videos hosted on YouTube. Whether you like to watch the new up-n-comers, or classic YouTube favorites, TiVo subscribers are in control of the content they want to watch, whenever they want to watch it.

"With YouTube content now available on TiVo, on top of all the movies, music videos, songs and TV shows that are simply unavailable on cable and satellite, TiVo subscribers have more choice on their TV sets than any other TV viewers in the world," said Tom Rogers, President and CEO of TiVo Inc.

YouTube on the Web attracts millions of viewers a day, and now TiVo offers consumers the opportunity to experience YouTube content where it is more comfortably consumed – in front of the TV set. TiVo users can now search, browse and watch their favorite YouTube videos through TiVo's famously easy-to-use interface. Soon, users will also be able to log into their YouTube accounts directly through the TV to access their videos, channels and playlists, making the experience even richer.

"YouTube brings video where the audience is - across the Web and onto mobile devices, TVs and video games," said Hunter Walk, YouTube's director of product management. "The partnership with TiVo extends our ability to make YouTube accessible anywhere and lets people watch what they want, when they want it."

Over the next few weeks TiVo will roll-out a software upgrade to Series3 and TiVo HD DVRs which will enable this feature. For more information on how to view YouTube videos on the TV via a TiVo DVR visit www.tivo.com/youtube.